It was a bit of a slow burn but the Michelmersh Brick Holdings Plc (LON:MBH) share price has stoked up to 79.5p (+4.6%) on news of its latest contract win.
The bricks maker, which operates at the premium end of the market, said bricks from its Blockley plant in Telford, Shropshire, will be used on the Battersea Power Station development in London.
It is a fair old trot from Telford to London so while it would be nice to think of the bricks – a cool 440,000 of them – being transported in the traditional method via barges along Britain’s waterways, I suspect some other form of transport will be used.
Tradition was very much to the fore in terms of the decision to use Michelmersh’s bricks, however, with the builders paying a lot of attention to choose bricks that match “the conservational standards” of the facades of the iconic London landmark.
Dilution at Herencia hits the share price but Milestone is lifted by new cornerstone investor
New equity is almost always issued at a discount to the prevailing market price, and Herencia Resources PLC’s (LON:HER) issue today was no exception.
The shares were issued at 0.01p, and given that the Chile-focused company’s shares closed at 0.0475p on Friday, it is small wonder that the shares have taken a dip, down to 0.0385p.
In all, just over 943mln shares were issued as a result of a conversion of loan notes into equity; the exercise price probably seemed like a good idea at the time.
There are now 7,156.4mln Herencia shares in issue (7.16bn if you prefer), so the newly issued shares represent around 13.2% of the enlarged share capital, which is fairly chunky.
Milestone Group PLC (LON:MSG) seems to be an exception to the rule that new shares are always sold at a discount.
The digital media, technology and social impact solutions provider saw its shares rise from 0.14p at Friday’s close to 0.17p after a company owned by British businessman Dr Ramesh Para pumped £1.5mln into the company by subscribing for shares at around 0.29p a pop.
Following this show of faith, Dr Para will join the board of Milestone is what is expected to be the first of a number of appointment to be made to the Milestone board and management team in support of a restructuring of the business.
Saffron Energy hits the gas
Saffron Energy plc (LON:SRON) shares made a positive start to Monday, rising 11%, after the recently listed Italy-focused firm reported a 104% rise in gas production.
Figures for the second quarter show output of 1.76mln cubic metres (or 62.2mln cubic feet) in the three months to June 30, compared to 862,000 cubic metres (30.4mln cubic feet). The jump in production was a direct result of the Bezzecca field coming online in mid-April 2017.
It also noted gas sales to Shell Energy Italia rose by 93% during the period.
Sector peer 88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E, ASX:88E) plunged 39% after it announced it is planning to shut-in the Icewine-2 well on Alaska’s North Slope to allow pressure to build up and soaking to occur.
Despite today’s loss, the shares are still up 5.3% over the last year.
Carillion CEO walks the plank after company 'fesses up to the hole it is in
There is blood on the carpet in the board room of infrastructure specialists Carillion PLC (LON:CLLN) after a grim trading update.
Richard Howson has stepped down as group chief executive and from the board after the company announced a strategic and operational review, its exit from a number of markets, a suspension of dividend payments and a disposals programme as it races to slash its debt pile.
Non-executive director Keith Cochrane, the former head of engineer Weir Group, has been given the job of sorting out the mess while the group looks around for a permanent replacement for Howson.
Shares in Carillion plunged by a third on the news, reducing the company’s market capitalisation to around £560mln, and with the company’s strategic review apparently prepared to consider all options, the firm must now be considered in play.
With the exception of Petra Diamonds, the company is now the lowest valued company in the FTSE 250.
Two chairs for Big Sofa
Now that Brainjuicer has changed its name, Big Sofa Technologies Group PLC (LON:BST) is probably the holder of the strangest name for a publicly quoted company (other suggestions on a postcard, please).
The international video analytics specialist (nope, still none the wiser) saw its shares rise 6.1% to 26p this morning as it appointed former Unilever plc director, Ralph Kugler, and market research expert Simon Chadwick as strategic advisers to the board.
"Big Sofa's core customers are major brands and market research agencies,” said Simon Lidington, chief executive officer of Big Sofa. (Beginning to understand a bit more about what the company does now).
“To have attracted two individuals in Ralph and Simon - with their vast experience in each core customer category - to our advisory panel, is further validation of the company's technology and services,” Lidington added.
Proactive News Headlines:
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E, ASX;88E) shares dropped more than 35% in Monday’s early deals after the company announced it is planning to shut-in the Icewine-2 well on Alaska’s North Slope to allow pressure to build up and soaking to occur.
UK Oil & Gas Investments PLC (LON:UKOG) is topping up its stake in Horse Hill, the so-called ‘Gatwick Gusher’ project, in Southern England, by acquiring a stake held by Regency Mines. UKOG is picking up an extra 1.235% interest in the project, meaning it will have a beneficial interest of 32.435% in Horse Hill. It is acquiring Regency’s 1.9% stake in the HHDL vehicle which owns 65% of Horse Hill.
Aminex plc (LON:AEX) told investors it has hired io, a Baker Hughes unit, by commissioning a gas commercialisation study for the Ntorya gas discovery, in Tanzania, which was validated by the recent Ntorya-2 appraisal well.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) chairman Neil Ritson declared himself “pleased” with the news that partner Aminex plc has hired IO, a Baker Hughes unit, for a gas commercialisation study for the Ntorya gas discovery, in Tanzania.
Europa Oil & Gas Holdings PLC (LON:EOG) has told investors that the multi-client Crean 3D seismic acquisition campaign is now underway, and it’s acreage is due to be covered during the summer. The company’s 30% owned Licence Option 16/19 is among the areas being assessed by the programme, carried out by TGS using the Polar Marquis vessel.
Columbus Energy Resources PLC (LON:CERP), the company formerly known as LGO Energy, has detailed new initiatives planned following an initial review of operations in Trinidad. The company explained the aim of the review was to develop a work programme, in a capital efficient manner, with the objective of being cash flow positive across the company by the fourth quarter of this year.
Digital media and social video broadcaster Brave Bison Group PLC (LON:BBSN) has confirmed that its new chief executive will take the reins earlier than expected following the sudden resignation of interim boss Kevin Deeley this morning. New CEO Claire Hungate – appointed last month – was due to take over in September, but that has now been brought forward to 1 August.
Electronics firm Stadium Group plc (LON:SDM) has enjoyed a strong first half of 2017, with revenues and the order book both growing. In the six months to the end of June, Stadium said trading was ahead of the same period last year and in line with expectations, while the order book jumped once again to above £28mln, up from £25.8mln at the end of 2016.
Patagonia Gold plc (LON:PGD) has completed construction of the agglomeration plant at its long-held Cap-Oeste gold project in Argentina. The company will now move to a testing phase, and will deliver gold and silver production guidance once a month of full production has been completed.
Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (LON:CGH) has promoted chief operating officer Robert Benbow to the position of chief executive. Founder Dekel Golan moves to a business development role as Deputy Chairman of the Board.
Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (LON:CMCL) has announced a fatality at the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe in a mining-related accident that occurred on 7 July 2017. The accident occurred in number 6 shaft area of the mine.
Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) has released financial results for the year to December 2016. Losses were pared back from the previous year to just under £5mln. Cash flow from operations is expected this year, now that the first tungsten from RHA has been shipped.
Atlantis Resources Limited (LON:ARL) said two of the three AHH turbines at its MeyGen tidal power project have been successfully reinstalled and reconnected, with the third one scheduled to be redeployed when tides permit, sometime in August.
Battersea Power Station is one of London’s most iconic buildings, and when it is redeveloped it will feature bricks supplied by Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC (LON:MBH). Michelmersh, in conjunction with its distribution partner EHSmith, will supply 440,000 purpose-made, wire-cut bricks from its Blockleys plant in Telford, Shropshire.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) has raised around £1.3mln before expenses to fund work on its projects, including its Portuguese lithium mine, with the subscription backed by its largest shareholder, Al Marjan Ltd which will increase its holding to just under 30%.
Tharisa PLC (LON:THA) is seeing signs of stability in the chrome market after sharp falls recently in the price of the metal. Liquidity has returned on the back of continued stainless steel demand and consumption out of China, it said, "while the fundamentals of the global stainless steel market remain sound.”
Empyrean Energy PLC (LON:EME), which last week told investors that a proposed exploration programme onshore California has been given the green-light, said today that the operator of the Depsey1-15 well has signed a drilling contract.
Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) has flagged up positive news from one of the parties it recently issued an intellectual property claim against in the UK High Courts of Justice in an attempt to extend its European patent protection.
Harvest Minerals Ltd (LON:HMI) has appointed Lino Furia as its Brazilian-based sales manager to support sales of its KPfértil fertiliser and build a strong presence across the country’s agriculture sector.